Till now, patients requiring specialized treatment with quality care had no other option than to turn towards the corporate hospitals outside Jammu and Kashmir. This often meant they would end up spending at least three times more than what it would cost them if the hospital was located in their vicinity.
Good news has already arrived in Kashmir. Paras Health, a trusted name in quality and affordable healthcare, has started services at its 200-bedded fully equipped multi-specialty hospital in Srinagar.
The Srinagar chapter of the hospital is the seventh healthcare set-up started by Paras Health. The group, started in 2006, quality being its mission right from the beginning.
The Kashmir Scenario
It has been a trend for decades that people from Kashmir, aspiring for advanced and quality healthcare, would travel outside Kashmir to corporate hospitals in Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, and other cities of India.
This would mean that in addition to the patient’s travel costs, the family would also bear the brunt of travel and stay of the accompanying family members.
The treatment costs would further be spiked up with the addition of the travel, boarding and lodging.Worse, every follow-up would mean multiplication of the expenses, absence from work and often falling back on timely treatments and interventions.
A trend of patient outreach has also been running in Kashmir wherein doctors from hospitals outside Kashmir would provide consultation in Kashmir and direct the patient to report at a particular hospital outside Kashmir.
J&K Government recently announced that it would lay emphasis on developing private healthcare sector in Kashmir and announced a medical city in the outskirts of Srinagar.
Paras Health for Kashmir
Paras Health aims to improve the overall healthcare delivery in Kashmir with provision of quality facilities right at the doorsteps. The Hospital aims to generate employment for thousands of individuals, across specialties. In due course of time, DNB Courses will also be started in tandem with the guidelines and medical board instructions. The hospital has the capacity to cater to over 1.5 lakh patients in Kashmir annually.Dr Santy Sajan – Group COO, Paras Health, while speaking to Greater Kashmir said, that Paras Health has been pioneering and bridging the healthcare gap in Haryana, Bihar, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and now in Kashmir. “Over the past 17 years, we have been making world class and compassionate healthcare services accessible. In Kashmir also, we had recognized that there is a big gap in the health infrastructure in terms of access to better and advanced treatments.” Dr Sajan expressed concern over the fact that there has been brain-drain of good clinical talent out of the Valley and patients struggle to get good quality medical treatments in time. “People of Kashmir travel out of valley to other big cities to get access to better medical services. Hence, we realized, there is an imminent need of quality healthcare in Kashmir. We want to help bridge this gap and provide world class medical services at the doorstep of every Kashmiri, so that they don’t have to travel out and spend extra. We want to build a true partnership for a healthy Kashmir,” Dr Sajan said.“Our endeavour is to see that world class medical services and best clinical talent is available for people of Kashmir and we not only save lives but also help people of Kashmir prevent illness and lead healthy lives.”
The Specialties
Keeping in view the disease profile of the population in J&K, Paras Hospital Srinagar has prioritized making Cardiology, Oncology, Orthopedics, Neurosciences and Renal Sciences fully functional right from the beginning. With a strong team of experienced Cardiologist, CVT Surgeons, Neurosurgeons, Orthopedic surgeons and specialist, Onco-surgeons, nephrologists, and many other specialists, the hospital will be a boon for patients in Kashmir. Paras Centre for NeurosciencesParas Centre for Cardiac DiseasesPara Center for Renal SciencesParas Center for Gastro SciencesParas Cancer CenterParas Center for Joint Replacement, Orthopedics and Sports Injuries.
Specialties
Internal MedicineObstetrics and GynaecologyPediatrics and NeonatologyEmergency MedicinePulmonologyCritical CareRheumatologyAnesthesiaMAS and General SurgeryPlastic, Reconstructive, and Maxillofacial SurgeryENTOphthalmologyPhysiotherapyDentistryDermatologyEndocrinology
Making Advanced Emergency Care a reality: 24 hours a day x 365 days a year
Paras Hospital is Kashmir’s first Super Specialty Hospital outside the Government sector which will have adequate bed strength and cater to the most basic and most advanced healthcare needs together. With commitment to bring the latest in medical sciences and healthcare at the disposal of community, the hospital has state-of-art facilities and is ‘the first’ in many respects.Keeping in view the constraints of access that Kashmir faces and the difficulties people have in reaching other parts of the country, the hospital has set up scores of ICU beds in every specialty. To cater to those requiring intensive support, over 100 nurses, trained in providing critical care have been recruited for Srinagar already. The administration said it is in the process of adding to its strength of nurses, para medical staff and other allied and support services. “Medical care is not just about doctors and specialists. It is equally about the entire eco-system of various services in the hospital,” said Dr Santy Sajan. There are seven modular Operation Theaters, equipped with the latest of bio-safety technologies that ensure a sterile environment for the patient and improving outcomes.The Hospital is perhaps the first one to announce a round-the-clock Emergency and Trauma Center. Very prudently, a 24 round-the-clock Blood Center, without which no emergency services would be possible, has also been set up. Blood components like packed red blood cells, platelets, Fresh Frozen Plasma and Plasma Aphaeresis would be available in adequate quantity at all hours. The lab services which are fully automated will also run round the clock at the hospital. The equipment, the hospital administration said, is the latest in the arena and would be regularly calibrated to give the most accurate and reproducible results in the shortest possible time.Hospital’s radio-diagnosis and emergency services would also run round the clock and have the advanced versions of equipment from leading manufacturers like Fujifilm, GE and others for X-ray, MRI, CT Scan, Ultrasound and Dexa-Scan.
The Stay
The Hospital has set-up six-bedded wards, two bedded rooms, single bedded rooms and suites for in-patients.
All the hospital admission areas have been designed and developed to ensure patient safety, infection control and comfort of the patients and their families.Two nurses’ counters have been set up on each floor to reduce the time a patient is attended to in a situation of emergency.
The nurses’ counters will have adequate nursing trained nursing staff, the hospital administration said.
Pharmacy, Pantry, Housekeeping, and much more have been very well designed and executed for reducing the stress on patients admitted at the hospital.
The hospital is confident that it can handle “any kind of emergency in the Valley”. The Cath Lab Suite for diagnosing and treating cardiac emergencies and diseases has also been designed to function round-the-clock.
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.